Hussey: Cut $15M from school plan, drop arts center

Thursday

Feb 13, 2014 at 2:42 PMFeb 13, 2014 at 2:44 PM

KENNEBUNK – Renovations to Kennebunk High School, Mildred L. Day School and Kennebunkport Consolidated School should cost no more than $60 million, voters should have a say on elementary school configuration, and RSU 21 should terminate its partnership with the Southern Maine Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, says the chairman of the district's Facilities Committee.

Jennifer Feals

KENNEBUNK — Renovations to Kennebunk High School, Mildred L. Day School and Kennebunkport Consolidated School should cost no more than $60 million, voters should have a say on elementary school configuration, and RSU 21 should terminate its partnership with the Southern Maine Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, says the chairman of the district's Facilities Committee.

These are some of the recommendations Tim Hussey made during Thursday's committee meeting - the second since a $75 million plan to renovate Kennebunk High School, Mildred L. Day School and Kennebunkport Consolidated School failed. Hussey said it's pretty clear that proposal failed because the scope of the projects was too big.

“If we do reduce the scope I think we can get this passed,” Hussey said.

In a series of recommendations on how the district should move forward, Hussey suggested the committees reviewing each of the projects return to the drawing board and come back with proposals for no more than $45 at KHS, $10 million at ML Day, and $4 million at Consolidated.

While members of the committee discussed aspects of Hussey's recommendations before an audience of approximately a dozen residents, the group made no decisions and will meet again on Friday, Feb. 28.

At Kennebunk High School, Hussey said he believes all music and arts program needs should be incorporated into the high school building, that there should be one gymnasium, and improvements to the athletic fields should be “must do” fixes only, with no artificial turf. The cost of the project should drop by more than $8 million, with a cost not exceeding $45 million, he said.

Plans for Kennebunkport Consolidated School should be reduced by $5 million, he said, while at Mildred L. Day School, since there are safety issues with the sinking of a portion of the building, costs should not exceed $10 million – over $1 million less than was proposed in January.

Hussey also suggested the district terminate its relationship with the Southern Maine Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, a community arts center proposed to be built next to Kennebunk High School, which he said was a point of contention for voters.

“We've given that a good try and I think that this is part of the reason that, frankly, there was public opposition to the entire project and I don't think it's realistic,” Hussey said.Committee member Bob Domine, who is president of the SMCVPA, expressed opposition to Hussey's recommendations, saying it was “disingenuous” that they were “dropped on members of this committee before having a chance to review them,” and asking Hussey how he “individually and unilaterally decided to put forward a new plan.”

Hussey said any committee members have the right to bring ideas forward.

“I think any of us have the right to put forward a plan,” he said. “That is my right.”Hussey told members of the committee that he no longer supports a professional survey on why residents voted down the $75 million proposal. While the RSU 21 Board of Directors voted earlier this month to begin an RFP process, Hussey said it will take an extensive amount of time to design, conduct and review the survey, and said there will be public skepticism of the data.

What information Hussey said the district needs to move forward with is gathering public sentiment on configuration of elementary schools, like whether the communities of Arundel or Kennebunkport would support closing an elementary school. That opinion could be gained through a non-binding survey during the budget referendum – currently discussed for June, Hussey said.

“The idea would be to present those choices on a ballot where all voters have the opportunity to register opinion on that. It's my personal belief that both towns would validate their desire to keep both schools open,” Hussey said. “I don't believe a formal, professional survey is in our best interest now.”

Domine strongly disagreed with Hussey's reasons for no longer supporting the professional survey.

“I have a little trouble with the notion that we're just going to sort of scrap polling and scrap a survey because a few loud voices in our community say they don't believe it,” he said. “We understand that scientific polling works. I don't know why because we have a few vocal individuals in our community who don't believe in research that we wouldn't do that. That strikes me as being the most spineless board move I've ever heard of in my life. I'm not going to support pandering to it by the chairman of this committee. So there.”Addressing the idea of a survey conducted during the referendum, committee member Jack Reetz said closing an elementary school, even conducting a survey asking voters their thoughts on that idea, could “tear apart the fabric of this district.”

“The communities have voted. There has been a clear decision. I say clear because there have been withdrawal efforts in both Arundel and Kennebunkport that have not succeeded. They want to keep schools open and the language of our cost sharing agreement, that we just voted on less than a year ago by a 2/3 majority, clearly stated that we want one district,” Reetz said. “I think if you seriously go out and poll you will be tearing apart the fabric that we've built and it will likely lead to withdrawal by both towns.”While the Board of Directors and Facilities Committee have explored various options in recent years, Hussey said the public has not had a formal say on the configuration of elementary schools.

“I believe we should have a facility in each town, but we have not tested the public,” he said. “I don't believe asking a non-binding question is tearing the community apart.”Committee member Art LeBlanc also raised the idea of exploring grade configuration at the schools, which could lead to cost savings, while others said maybe each elementary school should operate on a k-5 model.

“If we were to actually consider changing the grades at the schools so we could balance capacity, it could very well reduce the scope of renovations to be done. We haven't really investigated that option,” he said. “Let's come up with a plan that balances the capacities we have, the renovations that are required, so we have schools that are safe and supported by the towns from a renovation standpoint.”

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service